So a few of the players in my group recently picked up this book before the start of a new campaign and I figured we would give it a whirl so I allowed the book and let one of my players come up with a race with a backstory etc. . . to try out. I gave him a point limit of 17 seeing as how fetchlings cost that and have no level modifiers.
Let me say I think I am regretting this decision.
The way point costs are setup are all over the place, with no rhyme or reason as to why certain things cost X or -Y points. My player came up with the following race:
Half Dhampir/Samsaran
1RP Specialized: +2 int, +2 cha, -2 con
2RP Darkvision
1RP Low light vision
-1RP Negative energy affinity
4RP Shards of the past (he wants to be able to swap to bonus spells gained via Samsaran racial traits)
1RP Resist level drain
1RP Undead resistances
3RP Spell like abilities 1/day detect undead, comprehend language, deathwatch
Total RP cost =12
This seems rather odd to me that neg. affinity would be worth negative points considering it costs a feat to achieve a similar effect normally (Necromantic Affinity, Inner sea world guide). You can also gain all the benefits of half-undead subtype with only a 3 RP expenditure
Let me know if he or I missed anything but at this point I am ready to ban this part of the book as a bad idea.
Standard PC races are like 8-11 RP (Dwarf having 11); I would not give him much more than that, 17 is a little much.
The Mystic Past Life Samsaran trait isn't... too bad? Depending on how clever he is. If thats basically the only optimization he will be making, I don't see it being an issue.
If you want to bring his power down a smidgeon, give him the Light Sensitivity and call it down. He's done a good job of mashing the two together without overly cherry picking.
Yea I have been having him submit builds to me this is #2, #1 and 3 are way worse. The power level of the race doesn't seem too bad now, but just reading the race creation guide of the ARG makes me go whyyyyyyy. but good call on the light sensitivity, i think i'll add that and call it done so we can get some real playtesting.
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Maybe you should have him submit his idea for his race in prose (and not game stats), and then you pick the stats for the race. It would likely end up more balanced, and it would probably feel more like a race and less like a pile of abilities.